...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Strikeforce looks to be making a change for women's fights going forward, working first with the California State Athletic Commission to get the Women's Title bout between Gina Carano and Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos five minute rounds and now doing the same for Friday's contest between Shayna Baszler and Sarah Kaufmann on Strikeforce Challengers: Villasenor vs. Santos.
MMAJunkie.com first issued the report, speaking with Strikeforce executive Mike Afromowitz. After getting the Carano-Cyborg bout cleared for five minute rounds with the CSAC, the Washington State Athletic Commission approved the move for Friday's bout themselves.
Afromowitz stated the change will be on a fight by fight basis as they work with the commissions in each state to get approval for the change. The three minute round format for women's mma bouts had been heavily criticized, including by Kaufmann after her win over Meisha Tate on the first Strikeforce on Showtime event.
Strikeforce Challengers airs live on Showtime on Friday night, June 19th.
Penick's Analysis: This could be a great thing and a not-so-great thing for Baszler and Kaufmann. On the one hand, they deserve to be able to fight the full round length that their male counterparts compete with, and on the other they've been training for a nine minute bout and have six more minutes to handle now on Friday. As professionals they should be fine, but there may be some cardio issues come the third should they reach that point. Still, this is a good proactive step by Strikeforce to try to work with the commissions on changing the standard.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
